For Carrot Cake:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 ¾ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup vegetable oil
½ cup sugar
1 ¼ cup light brown sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups freshly grated carrots
1 cup chopped pecans
For filling:
6.8 oz. box white chocolate instant pudding mix
4 cups milk
For Cream Cheese Frosting:
6 oz. cream cheese- softened
1/3 cup unsalted butter-softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups powdered sugar
Salt, to taste
Preparation process
For the carrot cake:
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease the glass dish. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves in a medium bowl and set it aside.
Step 2: Add oil, eggs, vanilla, sugar and brown sugar in a bowl, mix together until it is combined. Then add flour mixture to it and mix properly till it is homogenous.
Step 3: Fold the grated carrots and pecans and spread the cake batter into the greased dish. Leave it to bake for about 40-50 minutes, or until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Step 4: Let the cake cool for about 10 minutes and poke holes less than 1 inch apart all over the cake using a wooden spoon. Then whisk the instant pudding mix and 4 cups of milk together until there are no lumps.
Step 5: Pour the pudding over the cake and into the holes, then smoothen the top of the cake and place in the fridge until the cake is cooled completely.
For the frosting:
Step 6: Beat the butter, cream cheese, vanilla and dash of salt well until it is smooth and creamy. Add powdered sugar gradually into the mixture, beat on high speed for about 2-3 minutes.
Step 7: Spread the frosting on the cooled cake and put back in the fridge for 30-45 minutes before serving. You can store for up to 5 days.
Tips:
In making the cake, you can use walnuts instead of chopped pecans